At least five people were crushed to death in their cars after the collapse of an overpass near Montreal, Quebec provincial police said Sunday.There appeared to have been some advance warning signs of trouble with the overpass in Laval, part of the Greater Montreal Area. One witness told TVA television network that he noticed the road had sunk an inch or two when he traveled over the overpass minutes before the collapse, and he called emergency dispatchers. An inspector from Transport Quebec, the provinces transportation ministry, was sent to the site about 30 minutes before the tragedy, but the overpass remained open. Transport Quebec spokeswoman Josee Seguin said the department heard about an hour before the accident that some pieces of concrete were falling off the overpass. She said Transport Quebec then issued an advisory to traffic reporters on the debris... http://www.cnn.com

A public school is requiring detention for parents who get their kids to school late.Under the new rule at the Manhattan School for Children, parents who don’t drop off their children by 8:25 a.m. have to pick up late slips from the principal’s office and go to the auditorium to serve 20 minutes of detention with them.“The parents need to make the breakfast, get the children dressed and get them to school on time,” principal Susan Rappaport told the New York Post for Sunday’s editions. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15096891/

Gayle Berner learned last week that her husband's unit would stay in Iraq 46 days past its planned departure date in early January.She wasn't that surprised. "I was really upset last time," Berner said this weekend. "But this year, I kind of expected it."The brigade's last tour, 15 months ending in July 2004, included a three-month extension. "You can argue with the Army all you want. It's not going to change anything," Berner said.In its fourth year of war in Iraq, the U.S. military is struggling to keep about 140,000 troops there while fulfilling other commitments and reorganizing its forces. The extended tour of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division — about 3,800 troops based near here — was ordered so the force replacing it, a unit from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, could complete a year of preparation before redeploying to Iraq, the Pentagon announced last Monday....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-01-us-families_x.htm?csp=34

Heavily armed Hamas militiamen's efforts to break up anti-government protests on Sunday sparked gunbattles across the Gaza Strip that killed eight people in the worst internal Palestinian violence since the terrorist group took power.Militants from the opposition Fatah group retaliated by torching the Palestinian Cabinet building in Ramallah, attacking Hamas offices throughout the West Bank, kidnapping a Hamas minister and threatening a mass strike. The spasm of violence dampened already fading hopes for the creation of a national unity government between the two groups that could end crippling economic sanctions.The fighting continued throughout the day and sent schoolchildren and other civilians in downtown Gaza City fleeing for cover....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,216960,00.html

Crumbling roads and highways in the nation's metropolitan areas are imposing a "hidden tax" on motorists by increasing costs to maintain their vehicles, according to a survey released today.Twenty-six percent of the USA's major urban and suburban roads have substandard pavement that provides an unacceptably rough ride to motorists, according to TRIP, a non-profit research group in Washington that is funded by the insurance, highway construction and automotive industries. That's up from 23% in 1999 — partly because of rising costs of road-building materials and heavier traffic, says Frank Moretti, director of policy and research at TRIP."The worse shape roads are in, the quicker cars and trucks deteriorate, and motorists find themselves in the garage or back in the showroom," Moretti says. "Driving on rough roads is costing the average urban motorist about $383 annually in (added) vehicle-maintenance costs."...http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-01-bumpy-roads_x.htm?csp=34

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must face a run-off election, one of his senior aides said, after a string of corruption scandals turned many voters against the incumbent in Sunday's presidential election. Tarso Genro, a top Lula aide and cabinet member, told reporters the vote would be decided in a second round against his main rival, former Sao Paulo State Gov. Geraldo Alckmin. Lula needed more than 50 percent to win re-election outright. But with 96 per cent of the vote counted, results showed him just shy of 49 percent and Alckmin with 41 percent. A second round could unite the opposition against Lula and give them more time to dig up further evidence of campaign wrongdoing by Lula's Workers' Party. The tight contest marked a dramatic shift in the last few days. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2515508